The 23-year-old Danish professional CS:GO player, Valdemar ‘valde‘ Bjørn Vangså, shone the brightest at DreamHack Valencia 2018 as he helped his team win the title and a huge chunk of the $50,000 prize pool.

What Happened in Day 1 of DreamHack Valencia 2018?

Day 1 consisted of the group stages, with the eight teams separated into two groups with 4 teams each. Group A consisted of the Portugal-based Giangs, AGO, North, and Heroic. Meanwhile, Virtus.Pro, G2 Esports, Luminosity Gaming, and Fragsters all played in Group B.

The first match of DreamHack Valencia 2018 saw North crush Giants, leaving the Portuguese team with only 8 rounds to their name. All in all, most of the favorites managed to win their opening games, although some struggled. Case in point, Lumnisoity Gaming dominated G2 Esports on Inferno with Joshua ‘steel‘ Nissan leading the way with 25 kills. However, this was not the only surprise on the first day of the tournament.

The Polish veterans Virtus.Pro experienced humiliation in the hands of Fragsters as they only managed to win one round. Somehow, 4 out of 5 players from Virtus.Pro averaged below 50 damage per round, which is just donwright awful. Furthermore, North lost to Heroic on Mirage, they were down 10-5. However, they managed to pull it back to a 10-10 scoreline, but they fell short as they lost it 16-10. The last match-up of the day was another upset as Fragsters defeated Luminosity Gaming in dominating fashion. This left the Brazilians only one last chance to advance further in the tournament.

A Roller Coaster Ride of Elimination Matches

4 teams had to battle it out in the second day of DreamHack Valencia Open. All of the games had to be played in a best-of-3 format. Scoring was opened by AGO as they put themselves on the scoreboard with a dominating win over Giants 2-0. G2 esports then sent Virtus.Pro packing with a decisive 2-0 win, with the French veteran Richard ‘shox‘ Papillon digging deep in his bag of tricks to pull off a throwback performance.

Later on, North barely managed to pull through AGO. They were able to win map number 1, however, they lost their own map pick where they only won 6 rounds. Lucky for them, they were able to close it out on Train with a tight scoreline of 16-12. Just like that North was through to the semi-finals. This is despite playing this tournament with a stand-in “Mixwell” as their primary AWPer. The Spanish player had 71 kills throughout 3 maps versus AGO, as he single-handedly carried his team through to the semis.

The last game of Day 2 was particularly a sight to watch. G2 Esports went up against Luminosity Gaming in a closely contested series that saw them battle it out in Dust2, Mirage, and Inferno. Ultimately, it was Luminosity Gaming who took the series, despite shox taking 24 frags in the second map as G2 Esports dominated the Brazilians on their map pick.

Valde Carries North to the Win

First up in the last day of DreamHack Valencia 2018 was North versus Fragster, where valde started to perofrm above everyone else. He got a 1.64 rating by hltv.org and averaged 111 damage per round throughout the series, which is out of this world. After an easy victory for North, they had to wait for their opponent in the finals, as Luminosity Gaming played versus Heroic. Although all the momentum was with Heroic, it was Luminosity Gaming who took the win. Gabriel ‘NEKIZ‘ Schenato was particularly magnificent in Luminosity Gaming’s win.

Later on in the day, with $50,000 USD on the line, North faced off against Luminosity Gaming in the Grand Finals. Both of the teams were hot at the moment, as individual members stepped up. The Danes picked Inferno first while the Brazilians decided to go for Mirage once again.

The first map was nothing else but a smooth sailing for North, with Oscar ‘mixwell‘ Cañellas Colocho and valde in charge. They both averaged over 100 damage per round, with valde dropping 30 kills in a single map. The second map started off with a Brazilian team leading 6-1, but they managed to drop their lead as they ended up with an 8-7 scoreline on halftime. However, T side was a different story as North managed to seal their title with a 16-9 score on Mirage.

What did you think of North’s win at DreamHack Valencia 2018? Do you think they’re going to use the momentum to win even bigger tournaments? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest on your favorite esports titles!